Eurovision is here! Delegations have been arriving in Basel in the last few days and rehearsals started on May 3. After closing the first rehearsals to the press in 2022, the EBU has now done away with TikTok videoclips. They will instead release sets of three photographs a day after each rehearsal, as well as description of the proceedings on their official channels. As such, today, we cover yesterday’s rehearsals, and continue with Azerbaijan, the third rehearsal of the day, with “Run With U”.
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan – Mamagama – First rehearsal
The following pictures have been published by the official Eurovision accounts. (Source: Alma Bengtsson, Corinne Cumming / EBU)
What happened on stage?
This description is sourced from indications given by the official Eurovision Reddit account.
- All three members are wearing black leather suits with red accents, with different styles of jacket for Asef (the singer) and Hasan (the guitarist), and a sleevless top for Arif (the drummer)
- They are accompanied by three dancers, two women and a man, wearing “sparkly black and red catsuits”, although the male dancers did not wear the planned outfit in yesterday’s performance
- Asef plays the saz (a traditional sort of lute in Azerbaijan) after the first chorus, in sync with the music
- The performance remains in the middle of the stage (like last year), within a “circle” that half-buried in the floor, echoed by a smaller, fully circular lightning apparatus hanging from the ceiling
- The wall’s LED screen will show silhouettes and shadows of dancers copying the moves of the backing dancers, to create a sort of “crowd effect”
- In terms of pyrotechnics, flame jets will be used at the end of the performance
This year, the performance from Azerbaijan is staged by Ace Bowerman, who is also working on the staging of the British entry, “What The Hell Just Happened”.
Stay tuned for further coverage today, with the rehearsals of yesterday, and for our live coverage on the ground starting on May 10, which will include (among other things) the full dress rehearsals and the live shows, live from Basel!
